Of all the matchups in the Hyundai Sun Bowl, none looked more lopsided than USC's elite receivers Marqise Lee and Robert Woods against a Georgia Tech secondary ranked 67th nationally in pass defense.

It was as one-sided in reality as it looked on paper, only that paper was in photo-negative.

Georgia Tech intercepted a season-high three passes, while holding USC to 2.9-yards per pass attempt and a season-low 107 passing yards.

That figured to earn a Yellow Jacket defensive back the C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player Award on Monday, and that recipient was the player who started the interception parade, cornerback Rod Sweeting.

A season that saw a defensive coordinator get fired at midseason ended with its star hoisting a trophy.

"All season, they never gave us a chance," Sweeting said. Interim defensive coordinator Charles "Kelly and the rest of the coaching staff really did a good job firing us up. The coaches brought a lot of energy to the team and it was great.

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"This is really exciting. With one of our coordinators getting fired midseason, Coach Kelly did a good job for us. He kept preaching to just finish, and the type of performance I had in this game, I am very excited."

As Sweeting's name was announced, Kelly broke into celebration and appeared to be holding back tears when Sweeting thanked him in a brief postgame speech. That certainly was a popular selection with Sweeting's teammates.

"That was cool. It's good to see something like that happen to him," safety Jemea Thomas said. "He's a senior and he's going out in a good way."

"Rod's been my big brother since I started here," said sophomore defensive back Jamal Golden, whose 56-yard punt return helped him earn the John Folmer Most Valuable Special Teams Player. "It's good to see him get that."

Sweeting was part of a defense that held Lee to six catches for just 41 yards and Woods to three catches for 33 yards. He also finished with two pass breakups and an interception, which started the turnover parade. It came in the second quarter, and he returned it 21 yards.

"The quarterback (Max Wittek) was staring down a lot of his receivers and Coach Kelly always preached on how to look for that," Sweeting said. "I just sat down and jumped (the route). We saw on film that the zone caused them a lot of havoc. Jamal and I were moving around disguising the coverages. (Wittek) was rattled the whole game and we knew we had him.

"It was a good job by the safeties on disguising the coverages."

Wittek said the wind got hold of several of his passes, but Sweeting is convinced this was Georgia Tech's day regardless.

"If the wind wasn't blowing, I feel like the result would have been the same," he said. "We just went out there, lined up and did our assignments and got the W."

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359. Follow him on Twitter @bretbloomquist

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